It was one of most restful weekends in recent memory. Tress and I slept in on Sat morning and when we woke just after 7.30, we sat down in the lounge and turned on the tv to watch the remainder of the Olympics opening ceremony. By the time we started about our usual weekend run around it was late morning. We only left our usual coffee place close to noon. We didn’t do anything particularly pressing and later that evening we drove into the city and had dinner at the Little Nyonya restaurant in Docklands with a few friends, before paying a visit to one of those friends’ new apartment overlooking Victoria Harbor.
The young couple had just migrated to Melbourne earlier in the year and after several months he recently found and started work at Southbank. She has been working in Docklands for a few months so an apartment in that area made perfect sense. It was a very small 2-bedroom apartment and while it looked nice and comfortable (other than a great view), few of us really want to live in a box like that for an extended period of time. This couple was only making this a temporary arrangement while they look for a home to buy. This couple brought a friend of theirs along to dinner. An accountant from Johore Bahru who migrated about 5 years ago with his young family (he has 2 young boys), he works as a conveyancer in Brighton.
Families continue to move to Melbourne to live, in spite of the worsening economic outlook in Victoria. I think many have simply given up on Malaysia, especially in so far as the future of their kids is concerned. It isn’t just the education opportunities. Even now, we continue to hear stories of escalating public safety concerns. One can’t even walk around alone through a shopping centre anymore.
Last night we were at the home of a church couple. He’s the leader of the church board. We talked about church of course but we also talked, in passing, about Malaysia. They asked if we’d consider going back to Malaysia to live and I just can’t imagine doing that anymore. I guess their question was prompted by the fact that Kiddo has now left home to go to Uni and many parents who migrated used to do that – go home to their home countries once their kids made it to Uni. To us however, this is our home country now. Earlier today at lunch, I took a 20minute walk for a few blocks around my office. It was cool – about 12 degrees – but the walk was invigorating and I returned to the office, made a cup of tea and felt fresh again. I can’t imagine do this walk in Malaysia. I would be so drenched. This climate, this lifestyle, is it for me now.
I guess it was a restful weekend in more ways than one.
Ante 